Releasing handle for vestibule curtains



Ma 19, 1925. v

- P. G. EMERY RELEASING HANDLE FOR VESTIBULE CURTAINS Filed Jan. 25,1924" tion of the same, such as will enable others Patented May l9,litdlit'".

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iennnasrne nznnntze iron VESTIBULE cements.

Application filed January 25, 1924. -."3 oria1-1 l0.688,.4t-16.

To cZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PLATO G. EM-ERY, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Releasing Handles forVestibule Curtains, and declarethe following to. be a full, clear, andexact descripskilled in the art to, which it pertains to make and use:the sa1ne,.reterence being had i to the accompanying drawing, whichforms part of this specification. The present invention relates tohandles for automatically releasing the vestibule guard curtains ofrailway cars separated from each other sufficiently to endanger thesafety of the curtains; particularly handles of the type in which thereis a movable line.

ger, bail, or other hook-engaging element that is held in its normalworking position by spring means whose. resistance must be overcome inorder to release the handle; On

various railways, and under (littering conditions, the resistance'thatmust be overcome to release the handle, or in other Words, the pullwhich shall be cllective to release the handle varies considerably. Oneotthe objects oi the present invention is, therefore, to produce asnnple and. novel yielding hold- 7 ing device for the movable elen' enttor the handle of the character described, which may read-11y be setorad usted to cause the handle automatically to release when any desiredpull is exerted. The nature and use of these release handles are suchthat the handles are comparatively light and trail and, if they areroughly used by traininen or shopmen, they may become distorted andrelease under a lesser or greater pull than that which is intended Afurther object of the present invention is to produce a simple and novelconstruction. and arrangement whereby, when the movable or releasenieniberol the handle is brought into its working position, it willcompensate for any small distortion or bending of parts of: the handlewhich would otherwise affect the adjustment of the catch device,jwherebytlie handle will always be enabled to release when apredetel-mined pullis exerted thereon. A further,

object of the present invention is to produce a simple and noveltripping device, operated by a chain or other member "for releasing ahandle of the character above specified,

without depending on the curtain to exert a su-flieien tpuill to detachthe handle from the hook with which it is engaged. i

The variousteatures etnovelty whereby nay invention is characterizedwill hereinafter he pointed out-with particularity in the claims; but,for a f understanding of any invention and of its objectsand advantages,reterence may be had to the following detaileddescription taken. inconnection with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig-ure 1 is asi'deelevation of a. handle arranged in accordance with a preferred formof my invention; Fig. 2' is a section taken approximately on line 2-2 ofFig. 1

and Fig.3 is a section taken approximately on line 38 o l Fig. 1-.Referring to the drawing, that the body, of the handle comprises a: U-

shaped-member consisting of a vertical piece it will be seen that isadapted to fit'over a yieldingly-held i plunger which convenientlytakesthe form of a ball 8 loosely arranged in. and projecting out of thetop eta: vertical socket 9 in the arn'113. The ball issupported andyieldheld in its working position by a spring 10 underneath the same.The spring rests on a plug ll screwed into the lowerend of the socket 9so that, by adj ustingtlleplug,

the degree of compression of the spring may a be varied. Therefore,slnce the lower-end of the bar can be released from its working positionin which its lower end lits over the upper "portion of the ball only bypressing the ball down against'the resistance of its supporting springand since the resistance of the spring may "we varied, the handle may beadjusted so as to releasea'vhenthe pull thereon reaches any desiredpredetermined lnaxii'num. H

If the body of the handle or the bar 5 should become bent or distortedsomewhat,

but noteno'ugh to preventthe swinging bar from swlnging into 1tswork1ngposltlon, 1t might happen thatthe ball could exert only a very slightholding influence and, upon I putting the handle into service, it wouldreany distortion which will interfere with the proper engagement of thefree end of the bar 5 with the ball, the forcingof the prongs of thefork into the notches, during the operation of swinging the bar into itsworking position, will bring about a counter-distortion such that theball and the bar will be properly engaged with each other.

' In case it is desired to release the handle by a pull exerted througha chain or other element than the curtain itself, this may convenientlybe accomplished by mounting on the arm 3 a cam or lever 14 attached toone end of a chain or other flexible device which will not interferewith the roll ing up and unrolling of the curtain, but -will come intoplay .to operate the member 1a to disengage the free end of the bar 5from the arm 3 whenever the curtain has been unwound to a, predetermineddegree. In the arrangement shown, the member lt is a simple flatdogpivoted between its ends, as indicated at 16, to the arm 8; theoperating chain being connected to one end, and the other end being madecamshape or eccentric for engaging with the bar 5 and gradually forcingthe lower end thereof outwardly when the dog is turned. If desired, astop or projection 17. may be located on the upper side of the arm 3. inrear of the dog, to limit the swinging movement of the latter.

The fork 13 is shown as'forming part of a plate 18 riveted upon the arm3, the dog 14: being also mounted on this plate. While this is aconvenient arrangement, for manufacturing purposes, my invention is ofcourse not limited to this-particular detail.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to theexact details thus'illustrated and described; but intend to cover allforms and arrangements that come within the definitions of my inventionconstituting the appended claims. v

I claim:

1. A device of the character described, comprising a U-shapedbodymember, a bar hinged to the free end of one of the arms of saidmember and having in its free end a seat, the other arm of said memberhaving a socket opening out of the top thereof, a spring in said socket,a catch element resting on said spring and projecting outof the socketto engage in said seat in said bar, and means for adjusting said springto vary the pressure on said element.

2. A device of the character described, comprising a U-shaped bodymember, a bar hinged to the free end of one of the arms of said memberand having in its free end a seat, the other arm of said member having asocket opening out of the top thereof, a spring in said socket, a catchelement resting on said spring and projecting out of the socket toengage in said seat in said bar,

and a support for the lower end of the spring adjustable lengthwise ofsaid socket to vary the initial compression of the spring.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a U-shaped bodymember, a bar hinged to the free end of one of the arms of said memberand-having in its free end a-seat, the other arm of said member having asocket opening out of the top thereof, a spring in said socket, a catchelement resting on said spring and projecting out of the socket toengage in said seat in said bar, and a dog movablymounted on said memberadjacent to said socket for engaging with said bar near the free end ofthe latter and forcing it laterally out of engagement with said catchelement.

l. In combination, a handle comprising a body member and a bar hinged atone end to said body member, said bar having in the free end a seat,said body member having a socket aligned with said bar when the latteris in its working position, a ball arranged in said socket and adaptedto project therefrom into the seat in said bar, and a spring in thesocket below said ball. I

5. In combination, a handle comprising a body member and a bar hinged atone end to said body member, said bar having in the free end a seat,said body member having a socket aligned with said bar when the latteris in. its working position, a ballfarranged in said socket and adaptedto project therefrom into the seat in said bar, a spring in the socketbelow said ball, and a support for said spring adjustably screwed intosaid socket below the spring.

6. In combination, a handle comprising a body men'iber and a bar hingedat one, end to said body member, means for detachably holding the freeend of said bar to said body member in thewo'rking position. of the bar,and said bar andmember having shoulders adapted to engage with eachother when the bar is swung into its working position and cause the freeend of the bar always to assume the same relation to said holding meansregardless of slight distortions of the handle.

. 7. In combination, a handle comprising a body member and a bar hingedat one end to said body member; said bar having a seat in its free end,said body member having a socket aligned with said bar when the latteris in it's working position and adjacent to the free end of the bar, aball mounted in said socket andyieldingly held projecting beyond thesocket in position to engage with said seat in the bar, and said bar andsaid body in its free end, said body member having a socket aligned Withsaid bar when the latter is in its working position and adjacent to thefree end of the bar, a ball mounted in said socket and yieldingly heldprojecting beyond the socket in position to engage with said seat in thebar, a two-pronged fork on said member lying near to and having itsprongs lying on opposite sides of saidball, and said bar having in thesides thereof near its free end notches adapted to receive said.

prongs. I e

In testimony whereof I sign this specification.

PLATO G; EMERY.

